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Bob's RV-8 Build Site
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Date:  10-25-2019
Number of Hours:  4.70
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  Cutting and Fitting the Canopy Part 3

Travel for work this past week pre-empted any work being done on the airplane. Rob and I got a lot done last weekend and Rob said he would come the following weekend to help finish the big job of getting the canopy fit....and THE BIG CUT!

Rob wanted to get an early start on Saturday which is fine with me as I am an early morning person everyday! I had made a couple of cuts on the canopy the last session that we had marked prior to Rob leaving. I smoothed the edges and brought the canopy back into the basement with the assistance of my wife.

I went down a little early to make sure we had everything we needed for this weeks session. With everything in order I waited for Rob and read some more on the process from my buddy Jim's log. It's amazing how after cutting off the flange and making some cuts the canopy gets very flexible.

When Rob showed up we headed down and continued determining where to remove material for the fit of the canopy to the fuselage. After a few sessions of carrying the canopy back and forth to the shop and cutting, sanding and smoothing we had the canopy sitting on the canopy frame bow. There was still a little space between the windscreen bow and the canopy. Plans call to remove some material from the bottom of the canopy bow where the wheels go in order to lower the canopy frame and have the windscreen bow match in height. Rob and I determined a strong 1/16" would be about right. So we removed the canopy and the frame and made the adjustment. The alteration made it match perfectly. After a little more tweaking we were at the point where it was time to make the BIG CUT!

Vans process calls for placing a piece of cardboard between the windscreen and the canopy frame bows and using that as the cut line. Rob uses an alternative process of taping the cut line and using that for guidance. Rob has done two canopies when he build an RV8 and RV7....I was happy to agree to do it Robs way.....experience over instructions on paper is always a better way!!

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Working with Rob fitting canopy

Working with Rob fitting canopy

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Using taped lines for the BIG CUT

Using taped lines for the BIG CUT

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THE BIG CUT IN PROGRESS

THE BIG CUT IN PROGRESS

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